Telling the truth: The ultimate virtue of life

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Everybody wants to tell the truth in every possible situation and want  to live an honest life. Being truthful and honest is the fundamental concept of life. From our early childhood we were taught about the importance and value of truth. All the religions and mythologies strongly promotes honesty and truth. We usually grow up with stories supporting honesty at every stage of life. We all believe that honesty always wins.

In recent times there is a false sense or feeling that it is idiotic to live an honest life.  It may sound good for a certain period of time but, in the long run truth always wins. There are so many ill consequences of not telling the truth. Telling the truth and following the honest path is not a very easy job at hand, but it is indeed a valuable aspect of life and it's worth the hardship.

Honesty and truthfulness make you a trustworthy person with a reputation. Telling the truth is associated with a better health as not telling the truth brings additional tension, concern and bad feeling leading to stress and health disorder. Truth brings ultimate peace of mind. This means you will also sleep well and there is no burden of the lie. Truth also brings self esteem and pride in yourself. You can always live with your head high. You have to have an extraordinary memory to be a successful liar. With time every lie gets caught. Telling the truth also enhances your confidence and helps keeping a healthy and good relationship with your close ones and associates. Last but not the least, there is no fear of legal troubles when you are truthful and honest.

In this context, I still remember a small incident during my school days, and I will like to share it here. I was playing cricket along with my friends using small stones as a ball (that day we forgot to bring the ball) during the tifin hours. It was of course a dangerous thing to do as the stones were flying in every direction at good speed after leaving the bat. But, we were oblivious of that fact (typical of that age) and were determined not to lose the chance of playing even though we forgot the ball. Eventually, it got the attention to one of the teachers, but he could not locate us as there were plenty of students playing various games in small groups in that small playing area. All the students were asked to stop the play and stand in a queue. Then the teachers asked us to tell that which group was playing with the stones instead of balls. No one was telling the truth, fearing the consequences. At last, one of my friends came forward and tell the truth (though he had not mentioned his fellow team mates name). After seeing him telling the truth, I got courage and came forward and confessed. This was followed by my most of the other friends who were playing with stones (but not everybody confessed). We were punished, but not very harshly as we all came forward even though not caught red handed.

Though there are situations where we find it hard to tell the truth and sometimes even telling a simple lie may be good for some reason (like not telling bad news to sick or elderly people). These lies can be treated as white lies and life will be impossible without them. But, telling serious lies and making a habit of telling lies for simple reasons are things which we must not fall prey to.

When you are telling the truth, you are sending a message to others that you also expect them to tell the truth even in difficult circumstances. A true leader always stands by the truth.

You can go through the embedded video of the Kinley (packaged drinking water) which is very touching and nicely demonstrated the importance of telling the truth.

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